Already Slacking?

And here it goes with the slacking, already! We went out and bought Mario Kart + extra wii wheel the other night. We'd borrowed it from Becky's sister, and so Becky was playing basically all weekend and then a lot this week. It really does a good job of capturing the feel of playing the more classic Mario Kart games, which Double Dash didn't really do for me. Don't get me wrong, I loved DD and it was crazy-fun, but the battle mode was crap compared to previous versions and that killed a lot of it for me. Admittedly, now that I've said that, I haven't even played the battle mode in MK wii yet, but we'll get to that. I suppose the simplest explanation is that they've included courses from all the previous games, which is something that I love and easily invokes nostalgia in an instant.

Drawing: going slow, if at all
Working out: have been riding my bike around quite a bit, but no lifting weights or running

Still excessively excited about running D&D starting in late June / early July.

Balticon 42

Went to Balticon yesterday from about 11:30 until 8pm. I've gone every year since early highschool but for the last couple of years I've only gone for a day or two and never stayed overnight, which admittedly loses some of the fun and feel of the whole con experience. It was incredibly fun though, because I got to run Keep on the Shadowfell for Dave, Richie, Ethan, and Scott - and we actually broke the second encounter mark! Finally! I've run those first two encounters three times now...and I've just started adding/changing things to make it more interesting for myself and the one or two players who've played them before. Dave played with the Tiefling Warlord character this time around and I'm very happy with how he works, though the Cleric's healing is definitely the best (as it should be) I'm still skeptical if a party can really manage just as well sans Cleric.

Balticon has gotten worse in the last few years, perhaps only in relation to what we like to do there, but I'd also say just in general worse. My desire to have a quality gaming convention that doesn't require driving to ohio (ie - east coast) is almost inspiring. Almost.

Good news, everyone!

Wii : obtained

Only games are Wii Sports and Wii Play (the controller deal is for suckers, which we are). Mariokart is inevitable within the next few days, and hopefully Wii Fit at soonest availability. We found the Wii at Toys'R'Us, only the second place we went to looking for one. It's a shame because I lost a (stupid) bet with Becky that we'd be able to find a Wii Fit before finding the system itself.

As a couple, we used to bet money but it was ridiculous because we share all of it anyway. These days we don't even worry about what the bet includes, the simple act of winning it is enough for either of us.

Forming Habits

One of the big things I'm trying to improve in my life right now is forming some good habits that help me get the things done in everyday life that I always want to get done. One of the biggest objectives is to get in the habit of drawing, as that's one of the first goals that is always on my list is to become a better artist. I'm not sure where I got this idea, but it just happened that I've decided blogging more here will help me develop good habits. Naturally I hope it will enhance my writing for Critical Hits also (both content and frequency).

Does anyone have any formal or informal knowledge about habits? If so, please let me know! I haven't looked into educating myself about it yet, but flying by the seat of my pants is not something new so full speed ahead!

On a side note, I really need to get my oil painting stuff set up in the basement. Approaching a 3'x4' blank canvas for the first time in 3-4 years will be very liberating!

Home Owner's Association

Went to the annual / monthly meeting of our HOA last night, only Becky, myself, and one other resident attended (oh some guy showed up at the very end because of a complaint or two he had). As of next month (or really right now) I am the architectural review board member for my development. It's very much non-glamorous stuff, approving porch additions and re-painting and all that jazz, but it's something to be involved and hopefully help the community look better and work better as a nice place to live.

Oddly, it sounds like some of the other streets in our development are kind of crappy and have a lot of problems, whereas our street has been awesome so far and any nice day there are 5-15 kids outside playing around. I love it! Becky, on the other hand...

(she likes the kids, just not the noise they make most of the time)

Stormtrooper Lovin'

I am so mad that I missed this when Valentine's Day happened:

Home: The Improvening

Spent most of the day, from about noon until 8pm, installing new front windows in our house. We had to tear out the old ones, which actually ended up taking almost all of the time because they had flanges on all 4 sides nailed in, which meant we had to remove almost all of the wood from around them before even getting to the tearing them out part.

We special ordered "replacement" windows, the tearing out of the wood portions meant we really could have just bought regular old "new construction" windows and they'd be better, but hey they're in and almost completely sealed up and everything.

We upgraded from early 90's single pane windows, which could NOT be opened because they had been sitting for years without being opened. I eventually did crowbar them open, once I was sure we were trashing them in the process of removal. It's bad when a window must be broken (the frame) to be operable. Ironic, but bad.

PS - I now own a crowbar, so if you become a zombie...you're pretty much F'ed

4th Edition

Going to be playing some 4th Edition tonight, man I can't wait!

Technically I'm running it, but it looks like that's one of the biggest changes with the new edition is that (at least to me) it looks way more fun to DM. Not that it was terrible before, but things that are good can always get better!

D&D on the brain

If I could get paid to plan a D&D game, I would be extremely happy.

Here I am, one of the few people who already gets paid to do something they love, and I'm complaining! Sorry!